Gorilla Glue Knife Handle?

Probably should have dampened the wood instead. The object is to have consistent moisture. That's almost impossible with steel, and may be a big reason you can't glue metal to metal.

Were I to use Gorilla, I would make sure there was enough room for the glue, obviously Not around the edges though.

I would put a little hollow in the tang and the handle material with the coarsest belt I had. Just a little, so the joint wouldn't be starved. Clamping really tight would be fine then, and there souldn't be a glue line.
 
The glue wars thread basically concluded that the Gorilla Glue works if one or both surfaces are porous enough to allow the proper moisture content when you moisten it. Without this the glue failed most of the tests.
 
Nebulae said:
if you clamp it well the expansion shouldn't be too bad, although when you grind away the exces you might have some open pores on the edge from half ground away bubles. also you can mix it with another glue (Ive only tried liquid nails, and a ruber cement type glue, but i'm sure it will work with most anything) then you can really cut down on the buble some bubles are good, but big huge ones arnt. ! more thing. it works really well if you drill dozens of 1/16 or similar size holes a couple of 1/16ths of an inch into the scale material. the foam fills the holes and you got allot of small pins.
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Rick

I use gorilla glue on all my teak spearguns these days. Holds up to hours in the water at depth and presure diving. Never had one delam on me yet. I would guess the bond to metal didn't hold or it was old glue. I have used West before as well it holds up to water also. With mixing systems like West if you get the amounts wrong you can have a problem as well.

That said teak wont absorb water wich migh break the bond but think you could have that with any glue to metal.

I don't use Gorala glue for my knife scales I use epoxy. I have used it on spear gun handles wood to metal but there are allot of gaps in the handles so it will expand inside and reach the scale on the other side.
 
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Somewhat off topic, but since I've got some recent experience and angst with Gorilla glue's super glue I thought I would mention it. The stuff is HORRIBLE. It takes forever to dry and half the time when it does it doesn't bond the two surfaces you are trying to glue. I just threw 3/4 of a bottle of the stuff away and am going back to titebond for gluing leather and wood together.
 
grizzled gizzard said:
Probably should have dampened the wood instead. The object is to have consistent moisture. That's almost impossible with steel, and may be a big reason you can't glue metal to metal.

Were I to use Gorilla, I would make sure there was enough room for the glue, obviously Not around the edges though.

I would put a little hollow in the tang and the handle material with the coarsest belt I had. Just a little, so the joint wouldn't be starved. Clamping really tight would be fine then, and there souldn't be a glue line.
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This goes counter to most of my experience with Gorilla and a couple other similar brands of glue. The idea with this type of glue is to have the minimum possible glue line- to have the best possible fit going in. No voids, no hollows, no room for expansion. the bubbled expansion properties aren't really structural to the glue, as far as I've been able to dig up or test. it's the glue bond to the material. Tight fit and tight clamping are the rule with this stuff.

Triton- gorilla super glue is a rubberized CA adhesive. It's not the same stuff, not for quite the same uses, as a straight CA adhesive.
 
Hm. That is interesting. I probably overstated my intent, as just a few thousandths would be enough, but I've never had any luck with smooth impermeable parts, clamped tight, and no space for glue. I've had good success with the way I use it.

I haven't read the "Glue Wars" thread, just going by my own experience.

I have tried the Gorilla super glue, with about 50% failure rate. Could you explain just a little what it is best for? I know it's supposed to be more shock resistant, but it just doesn't seem to want to hold for me. I've tried it with pins in micarta, but I am thinking it was too thick to get into the pretty tight confines.
 
i use it in conjunction with solid 1/4 pins .. holes drilled with a f drill .. very sturdy.. i always used flared tubes as well so i fit everything pretty much gap free anyway.. so it all works for me..
 
Generally any of the rubberized CA adhesives like the gorilla brand work best with REALLY clean parts.

I've used it with pins and tubing some, I've used it on underlayers of cord wrapped handles, and am working on some stacked leather for a handle with it.

Mostly for handles I still use 2 part epoxies or the gorilla glue with woods that aren't extremely oily. Mostly on those I run 80 grit on the tang, then a squick wipe with 120 grit, and the scales are finished at 120 grit.
 
koyote said:
Triton- gorilla super glue is a rubberized CA adhesive. It's not the same stuff, not for quite the same uses, as a straight CA adhesive.
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Well that certainly explains a lot. It certainly didn't bond the leather or the leather and wood. Perhaps my disappointment should be with myself for not reading the packaging more carefully. :)
 
SBuzek said:
And this is why I use West Systems epoxy.
Stan
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I know I'm a tad late in this thread, but I'm with Stan on this. I'll take it one step further though and say go with West Systems G-Flex. I believe it was originally designed as a marine/boating epoxy so it has excellent moisture reisitance, and it also has a very slight bit of flex to it that helps absorb shock. I've done some testing on it with hammers, bricks, throwing it against a large rock, etc. Beat on the handle like crazy. It takes a ridiculous amount of abuse to get the slabs to separate and even then I had to use pliers to pull the pieces apart the rest of the way. This is some very tough stuff. I've been using the G-Flex exclusively for a while now and have no plans to try anything else as long as I keep getting these results. It's a bit pricey, but well worth it in the long run I think.
 
I once got a batch of bad West Systems Epoxy. The large cans too. Very expensive. The store absolutely refused to refund my money or swap the product out for new. The cans were hardly used at all (maybe 10% gone), and I brought them several little cups that never hardened. I also had the mixing squirty things they sell at West, so the mixture was right.

I won't use them ever again. There are other eopxies that are good. If you get a bad set, you're out a few dollars rather than over a hundred.
 
I used Gorilla glue for the first set of scales I made. It was hideous. The glue became porous as it set, and ended up looking like a thin slice of sponge was used as a liner. I hated it, and ended up destroying that handle just to get rid of that beige sponge look. Bleh.

I'm all Acraglas now.
 
Tryppyr- and I have had horrid luck with acraglas (3 failed handle glue ups in a row) yet perfect success with gorilla. Funny how things turn up!
 
Yep. Maybe my results are indicative of how the glue performs in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe they perform differently in other regions (hotter, drier places, for example). Who knows.. ;)
 
I followed instructions on Gorilla glue (polyurethane) but had failures... I wasn't great at fitting back then, probably 3 thou gap in spots between tang and scales. Every knife opened up although the pins held... now i use epoxy with a filling agent but mostly do take-down construction with bolts
 
Speaking of following instructions, Acraglas instructions seem pretty different from most epoxies. Different mix ratio of hardener to resin, and you have to srit it for 3 - 4 minutes.
 
What's the buzz on G2, have y'all had good results?
So far I've gotten the strongest, longest lasting bonds with pc7....Too bad about the color, if I could find a sticky, fiber reinforced epoxy that was clear instead of grey, my search would be over.
I make a lot of kitchen knives, and fewer rivets tend to look really good on chef knives, but I hate that grey line...
Andy
 
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My R&D director (above) swears by Gorilla Glue! I have used it, it works great when clamped properly and there is a close tolerance fit. It is also 100% waterproof.

http://www.gorillaglue.com/glues/glue-guide.aspx
 
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